NEW DELHI - The evacuation drill followed by Air India, after the engine of a Boeing aircraft bound for Riyadh from Mumbai caught fire Friday, has come under the scanner as the slides to evacuate passengers were also seen open on the same side as the fire.

The state-run carrier has also temporarily grounded both the pilot and the co-pilot of the aircraft, even as Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is probing the incident, will question them in Mumbai, officials said.

With initial reports suggesting a fuel leak as the possible cause of the fire, the maintenance engineer overseeing the aircraft has already been suspended, the officials added.

Air India’s executive director for corporate communications Jitendra Bhargava said the carrier had followed the proper drill in evacuating the 213 passengers and that was the reason all of them were deplaned safely.

He also refuted the claims by some experts who were heard commenting in some TV channels that safety norms were not followed properly as passengers were also evacuated from the left exits of the plane where the fire was on.

“We followed the norms and process required during evacuations. We don’t know how the chutes opened on the left side. Passengers were evacuated only from the right side of the plane where there was no fire,” Bhargava said.

“The chutes on the fire side, in fact, opened 30 minutes after the passengers were evacuated. We don’t know who opened these chutes,” the Air India spokesperson told IANS, when asked how the slides were seen open on both sides in TV footage.

Airport officials also confirmed Bhargava’s contention and said officers of the fire service had opened the aircraft’s doors and the chutes on the left side for cross-ventilation to clear the smoke.

Both Air India and the DGCA have begun probing the incident involving the AI-829 flight, deployed on Boeing 747-437 aircraft named “Konark” that was bound for the Saudi capital from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The Air India spokesperson said contrary to reports, the aviation regulator had not blamed the carrier for the incident.

“We have no word from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), nor have they blamed us as some sections of the media are reporting,” Bhargava said.